Shigaraki found Toga and Compress and Silk faster than he thought he would. They were shut in some rooms somewhere.

The funny thing was they weren't locked in, they just didn't seem to want to leave.

"You're not really going to make us go," Silk said, sounding kind of haggard.

"This whole place might come down," Shigaraki said. "What's wrong with all of you?"

"Oh, well, in that case, I'm out," Toga said.

Compress had his mask on, but he seemed to stare at Shigaraki for a moment, before shrugging. "Very well."

Silk looked down. "Da, fine. Let's get out."

It wasn't a minute too soon. Everyone else in the base had already fled after hearing the crashing.

Shigaraki warped them all out, and Silk suddenly threw up.

Compress didn't act like he felt so good either.

"Did they poison you?" Shigaraki was puzzled.

"I didn't think so," Compress said. "Maybe it's the shock..." He rubbed his stomach.

"Lookie there," Toga said. "The giant is wrecking their s---."

Endeavor and Hawks didn't seem to be doing too well either.

"Do you hear singing?" Compress asked.

"That's Kayla," Shigaraki said, "but she should be about done."

As if on cue, Kayla broke off right after he said that.

Silk straightened herself up and looked around the corner.

"Hey...you all might want to see this," she said.

They all came over.

They saw a bunch of kids stuck in some kind of rebar cage...well, not really stuck--one was bending it back right now.

Mirko was standing not that far from them blinking and looking around. "Jeanist?" she called. "What just happened?"

"Ooh..." Toga said. "That whole thing came down."

"That was several minutes ago now," Shigaraki said. "They must have been transfixed the whole time."

"Kayla has quite the powerful set of pipes," Compress said. "Honestly, she scares me almost as much as that other--" He paused.

"We should go," Shigaraki said. "I have to get back to Master..."

"Actually, if we want to survive this, shouldn't we get out of range?" Compress said. "Any moment now..."

Hawks suddenly swooped over their heads.

"Rumi!" he called. "What are you doing over here doing nothing? We're getting our a---s kicked over there... Where's Jeanist?"

Mirko looked up.

"I...can't find him," she said.

Hawks just hovered for a second.

Then he shot feathers out all over and under the wreckage.

The League could see AFO from where they were now. He was still standing where he'd been standing, seeming to wake up from the trance the singing had put him in. All Might and Midoriya and Aizawa all were lowered to the ground now, but they were still kind of dazed too.

Hawks slowly shook his head...

"I...think..." he said. "I think I found...something."

Mirko tilted one ear.

Hawks lowered his head.

"He's...gone," he said. "It's... There's too much of it. It was too much for his quirk... These things happen, I guess." He seemed a little shocked.

"Oh no..." Silk breathed. "One of the Top Pros...is dead..."

"And we liked that one so much," Compress said dryly.

She smacked him.

"I'm not saying it's the best thing for us right now--we have to escape too--but why are you acting like it's some terrible loss in general?" he said.

"Like him or not, I don't like it when people die," Silk said. "And is hard for them, isn't it? That's their colleague, even if they not like him."

Mirko looked down. "It was my fault," she said. "He should have just run, left me there. I was fine...d--- it." She glared at the teens. "Couldn't put him in a metal cage, huh?!"

"We can't fight Hawks," Mixer hissed, "not both of them at once. I say we dip. She's gonna kill us."

"Yeah," Switch muttered. She snapped her fingers, and suddenly they were all gone, and a chunk of rock or tiling fell into the spot where they'd been.

"That was weird..." Compress muttered.

"Rumi, I think it's not really anyone's fault. That whole thing came down so fast-- I saw it," Hawks said. "It's a miracle you survived that at all, but there's no time to focus on this. Endeavor is one- offing that giant the longer I'm standing here. Come on, we have to go help."

"Didn't...didn't the others show up to help?" Mirko said.

Hawks looked. "Oh...yeah, I see something...but still. Or do you want to wait till that guy notices we're here?" He jerked his head at AFO.

Then he saw Shigaraki.

"Hey! Did you do that?" he demanded. "Really?" He started to fly toward him.

Mirko jumped up and yanked Hawks back down, forcefully.

"Chill out, Hawks, it wasn't him," she said darkly. "At least...I don't think it was." Suddenly she wasn't so sure.

"I assure you, we were with him the whole time," Compress said.

"No...not before that thing fell," Silk said.

Shigaraki hesitated. "It was Master. But he didn't know we were so close to it."

"And he just randomly destroyed a parking structure?" Compress was a little short because he was scared. "Well, that's comforting."

"There," Mirko said.

"Well...fine." Hawks flapped upward. "I'm going to help Endeavor, then. I can at least do that. I don't think we can fight AFO. You coming?"

"I...should probably make sure Likstar is okay first." Mirko hesitated.

"Fine." Hawks flew away.

 Mirko kicked some of the bars furiously. "I hate--" She stopped. "Ah, this won't help. Whatever. If you're all escaping, you should go now." She didn't even seem to care anymore.

"Uh...Mirko," Silk said, "I'm not really sure what you're planning to do, but please tell me is not something crazy."

"Crazy would imply I had a plan," Mirko said, turning.

"You see that, the going to face those people over there without a plan, that's the crazy thing," Compress said.

"Plans don't work anyway," Mirko said. "The plan was to get in and out of here without someone dying. You see how well that worked out. Adios." She leapt away.

"Are you...going to stop her?" Compress asked Shigaraki.

"Why would I?" Shigaraki said.

"Because AFO is going to kill her!" Silk said. "And Likstar! And anyone else who's over there with them. And other stupid Pros are fighting the giant. One of these problems would be enough to keep us all busy, but two? You're the only one with the kind of power to stop this."

"Likstar will get them out," Shigaraki said. "Us interfering would only provoke the rest of the organization more."

"You know, he kind of has a point there," Compress said. "But if we run...well..."

"We have no choice," Silk said darkly, "but Shigaraki might."

"Huh?" Shigaraki said.

"Let's just run," Toga whined. "I don't want to die here."

"You know, Toga, one of these days you're going to say that one too many times and jinx yourself," Compress said saltily. "No one wants to die at all, but someone already did. You think we're special?"

Toga shut up.

"Just get moving," Shigaraki said.

He cast a look back though... He wasn't as sure as he tried to sound that Shine was going to do this.

* * *

Wally and the kids looked around for Deku for a while before Jiro finally heard him with All Might.

Satisfied, Wally told the kids to just get back to where the police were.

Of course...none of them listened.

"Like h--- am I sitting this one out," Bakugo said. "Stupid Deku is not going to do this if I can't."

"Um...has going against what our senseis say ever ended well?" Camie said.

"In the ninja world, we acted like full team members, and they ain't sidelining us just because our teachers are watching," Bakugo scoffed. "I don't like being out of the action."

"Dude," Jiro said, "don't. We can't fight that thing."

Bakugo didn't listen. Instead, he went off towards the sound of fighting.

"Well...Wally can just speed run him back, right?" Camie said nervously.

Silence.

Medea swore. "Forget this." She turned into fire. "I'm going to look for Mirko and Silk." She raced through a building.

"I think we should stay out of it," Jiro said.

"Yeah huh," Camie said.

"You know it's dumb to follow them," Jiro said.

"Yep." Camie tugged her hair.

Jiro sighed. "But you're going to anyway."

"Girl, no one will see me," Camie said. "It'll be totes chill."

"I hate you sometimes," Jiro muttered.

* * *

Wally was able to yank Endeavor out of the path of the giant in the nick of time.

Endeavor actually was holding his own, even alone. The giant and him were at almost the same speed, and he could burn it, which was more effective than feathers. But he wasn't doing enough real damage to stop it, because it didn't let him get that close. Gigantomachia would just knock over more walls or other rubbish to block his path.

"Soon he'll move into the city that's not been evacuated," Endeavor said. "We must contain him... Where are all the others?"

"I'm coming!" Hawks called, flying up. "Oh, hello, West... Uh...what's going on?"

"You guys are in a real situation here," Wally said. "Maybe you need a little help from the fastest man alive?"

"And who is that?" Endeavor asked. 

Wally frowned. "Dude, I'm The Flash."

"So you have a code name now? That's not a very good name," Endeavor said.

"Says the guy who named himself after his life's struggle to surpass All Might," Wally said. "At least, I'm guessing."

Endeavor frowned. "Well, since you are here, why don't you try to head him off on the ground? Hawks, block him off from the sky, and I'll finish him from behind. Perhaps the two of you together can manage not to mess it up."

"Well, thanks for the vote of confidence," Hawks and Wally said at the same time.

Endeavor blinked. "Ugh, it's like a stereo..."

"On it," Wally said, "New Boss." He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah." Hawks flew off too.

They got in front of Gigantomachia, and Wally kicked up a bunch of dust and other stuff into his path till he'd formed a kind of wall out of rubble.

Hawks used feathers to poke at his face.

Gigantomachia mumbled something about annoying Heroes and swatted at it.

"MASTER!" he called. "WHAT IS YOUR WILL?"

But AFO probably didn't care to answer him. 

"He's not slowing down enough." Hawks was running out of feathers. "He's too strong... Endeavor needs him to hold still if he's going to inflict enough damage."

Wally looked around, then he picked up a piece of rubble and threw it, beaning the giant right in the forehead.

Gigantomachia blinked and looked down at him in some confusion.

"Hey, Goliath!" Wally called. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Gigantomachia raised his foot to stomp on Wally.

Wally put a piece of iron railing under it before anyone could blink. The giant suddenly found himself impaling his foot. The howl that followed rattled the windows in the area which were not already broken.

Mirko, from where she was approaching Shine, covered her ears and hissed.

Endeavor ploughed into the giant, all ablaze, as hot as he could get.

The giant was not as vulnerable as he should have been. Perhaps he also had some kind of regenerative quirk...who knew?

"Hotter..." Endeavor said. "Hold him in place." 

The giant tried to reach for Endeavor.

Hawks turned and used feathers to try to stop his hands.

Wally threw some more stuff at his face to distract him. 

Suddenly, something exploded right at Gigantomachia's front.

Wally looked. Bakugo had thrown a grenade.

"Bakugo? Get out of here!" Wally yelled.

"No!" Bakugo said. "Shut up." He held up his hands. "Let's just roast this d--- nuisance."

"You are so grounded later," Wally muttered.

The giant grabbed at Hawks, and the sheer wind force of it made Hawks go spiraling off balance. Then the giant swatted at Bakugo and batted away his next explosion.

Wally was able to outrun it, but he had to circle around.

The he came back, throwing more at the giant.

Endeavor's flame turned blue... He started panting.

The giant finally seemed to be feeling it. He jerked around, trying to snatch at Endeavor.

Endeavor dodged, and then came back to swing again.

The giant blocked him, and he smacked into the ground instead.

Wally tried to grab the giant and yank him back, but he wasn't that strong. Even using wind force wasn't working on this guy...

Bakugo tried to blast him again, but it wasn't doing much.

Hawks doubled back. "Come on, just go down already!" he yelled, shoving the giant back.

Endeavor got up and re-lit.

The giant stomped at him, with his good foot, and the ground under Endeavor chipped and sent him flying.

Then he swatted Wally aside because Wally was distracted by that. He went flying-- Bakugo managed to catch him and break his fall.

Gigantomachia yelled, "MASTER!!!" and raised his hands to bring them down on the area and probably level at least half of the buildings around them-- and them too.

Then...blue fire suddenly engulfed him... Where had it come from? Endeavor was still down...

Wally and Bakugo looked.

Dabi was standing on the street a ways down from them, breathing hard and sending fire out of his hands.

Behind him was Mabui, holding up her hands like she was measuring something.

"Oh my gosh..." Wally said.

"Get away from him!" Dabi yelled at him. "Morons!"

Bakugo didn't wait. He yanked Wally after himself and blasted a good distance away.

Hawks scooped Endeavor up with feathers and flew high into the air.

"Ready there, Tiger?" Dabi said to Mabui.

She smiled slightly, then she spread her hands widely.

Out of the sky fell a huge chunk off...was that stone?

Right on top of the giant.

It crushed him into the ground like a paper weight.

The whole area rattled...

Gigantomachia...didn't get back up.

Mabui panted. "I think I chose the right weight...but...wow... That's...a pretty big item for me..." She fell over. 

Dabi caught her. "It's okay. That was awesome."

"Touya--I mean...Dabi," Endeavor sputtered, as Hawks put him down. Hawks looked totally dumbfounded. "Why are you here?"

"Well, technically we're bringing you your coffee," Dabi said, "but it kind of got dropped on the way. Off the record, looks like you idiots needed a little firepower, so the secretary and I decided to help."

Mabui blinked. "Sorry if I...overstepped, sir..." she mumbled.

Endeavor was stupefied. "I... You had that kind of power all along? And you didn't say anything?"

"I didn't think it was relevant," Mabui said.

"That's the kind of thing I'd fire you for," Endeavor said crossly, "but then you won't learn anything. We'll be talking about this back at the office... Uh...well...um...anyway, at least the problem is taken care of."

"Or 'thank you', in other words," Wally said. "But how did you two know to come here?"

"Camie sent us a message a moment ago," Mabui said, "and I...well...portalled us here... Two people, Mr. West--see how much stronger I've gotten?"

"Oh, sure," Wally said. [That was her canon power, btw.] "And a rock, real impressive... Do you think he's dead?"

"He's not," Hawks said. "I mean...he's probably pretty badly hurt after that, but who knows? He could regenerate." His feathers ran over the giant. "I think you'll have to roast him... The police who assessed him said he's basically a nomu, so killing it is the standard procedure...Still...he's a little conscious. It kind of feels wrong."

"Not to me." Bakugo frowned.

"What kind of life is it living even if we allow it to?" Endeavor said. "Unless it can be reversed."

"I don't think he's able..." Wally said. "I don't get the feeling he's any kind of ex-Hero or anything. Seems more like a test tube product to me... It's sad...but I doubt he has enough mind to dig out...and it just kills them anyway. So...yeah, if you guys want to, but I don't want to watch it." He turned away.

"Me neither..." Mabui said.

They walked away a bit. While the others finished the job.

"I don't hear anything," Wally said. "Is AFO not around after all?"

Mabui shrugged. "Let's hope that person is never around us at all... But where is Miss Likstar?"

"That's what I'm worried about. She's not around, and neither is AFO or Shigaraki," Wally said. "I'd better go look and make sure everything's okay." He sped off.

Mabui bit her lip. "I feel like there's something familiar about this place." She shivered and looked around. "Something that reminds me of at home..."

[Hmm.]

* * *

Kayla had kept up her song for at least 10 minutes, but this intense focusing seemed to wear her out more than regular, and her throat got dry. She began coughing, and the spell was broken.

It took a couple minutes for it to wear off fully though. Everyone just kind of blinked and looked around like they were trying to remember...

Shine turned to her. "Run," she said.

Kayla coughed more. "What?" she said hoarsely. "I'll be all right in a few minutes, for round two."

"No, I mean run now!" Shine tried to shove her away. "Perhaps I should just portal you, though I hesitate to use my energy for that--"

Red tendrils shot across the space and suddenly yanked Kayla out of Shine's grasp.

AFO had recovered faster than they thought.

Kayla gasped as they were sticking into her body. 

"How interesting..." AFO said. "You're...a siren...can convince people to do anything. What a magnificent quirk...and it's just wasted on a weakling like you."

"No!!!" Aizawa suddenly cried. His eyes lit up.

AFO's quirk started to recede.

But he just used his actual hand to grab Kayla by the throat.

"Oh, careful," he said. "I might just crush her... You Heroes are so annoying."

"You monster!" All Might cried. "Put that poor girl down. It's me you want anyway, isn't it? I don't know how you got out of prison, but I promise you, we'll send you back!"

"Prison? What Prison would hold me now?" AFO said triumphantly. "You don't understand, you old fool. I am beyond the reach of the law, of Heroes, even of Villains, if it came to that."

"What is he saying?" Deku said in small voice. "Was he like that before?"

"No...though it sounds like something he would say," All Might said, "but I won't say he was this confident last time...It must be because I do not have my quirk."

"Well, then..." Deku began to power up.

"Midoriya, no!" Aizawa turned to stop him.

AFO laughed. "Fools."

Kayla suddenly yelped.

There was no visible change to her eyes, except...the bluish tints in her hair suddenly turned to full black.

Aizawa realized his mistake. "Oh no... What have I done?"

"No..." Shine had been running toward AFO, but now she stopped, horrified.

AFO dropped Kayla, who clutched at her throat and gasped.

"A quirk like this would elevate someone to god levels... You foolish Heroes do not understand the power you wield..." he said. "But you will..."

Shine's eyes blazed up.

AFO spoke in a commanding voice. "This should be fun... How about you all come a little closer, and we can have a chat?"

Deku and All Might and Aizawa all started to walk toward him.

Shine muttered something that must have been a prayer. "No you don't..." she said in low voice. "You won't get in my head..."

She held her sword up. "You stay away from them!"

AFO laughed. "Miss Likstar, they can't help it. It's kind of poetic, isn't it? One little quirk can change the entire course of a fight. But you wouldn't know, would you? You don't have one."

"And you think I'm lesser than you because I don't have a stupid genetic ability?" Shine said.

"To be fair, even if you had one, you'd still lesser then me," AFO said.

"Well, true, I could never amount to your ego," Shine shot back.

She saw Mirko in her peripheral, coming up from behind her. 

Shine motioned at her, without turning around, not to come close.

Mirko took in Kayla, then she looked at AFO, and her eyes widened in horror.

Kayla looked up, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry..." she said. "I...should have run. I shouldn't have stayed within sight. It's my fault... Cursed quirk..."

"It is mine too for not thinking of that," Shine said. "But no use blaming yourself now. Just go, Kayla."

Kayla got up and stumbled way. AFO made no move to stop her.

"How about I make all your friends fight each other to the death?" he said. "Then again, the boy there could probably finish off the other two in no time at all, though perhaps with the one's erasure quirk, it would be a more even fight. Would that interest you, Likstar? I know that you value your followers highly. It would be so delicious to make them turn on each other in front of you. You worked so hard to unite them, isn't that right?"

Shine made a face. "If you think I'd consider that real, then you're delusional," she said. "What you puppet people to do, I do not blame them for." She walked up to Deku and Aizawa. "Hey, don't listen to him."

"I don't want to," Aizawa said dazedly, "but it's...hard to resist..."

Shine tilted her head. The quirk...wasn't taking full effect? Was it AFO's lack of experience with it? Maybe... Or did you need water to activate it fully? Was that a key component?

If that was true...she had an idea.

In the middle of this, they heard a loud crash! and a boom!

"Hmm? Did that idiot Gigantomachia just crush something?" AFO said in a bored voice. "Huh. Well, all you Heroes, attack each other now. I know your hatred for each other."

The Heroes started to frown...

Mirko had her hands over her ears, but of course her hearing was super good anyway. She blinked hard. "No...no...stop it." She shook her head.

Shine mimed hitting herself and mouthed, "Hit."

Mirko kicked herself in the shin and winced, but it did help.

Shine slapped Deku and Aizawa both. All Might she wasn't that worried about. He seemed a little less dazed as it was.

"It won't last, Likstar. I will have my way," AFO said. "I always do."

Shine suddenly looked up and smirked. "Not this time," she said.

She rammed her sword into his torso before he realized what she was doing.

He grabbed at her and yanked her by her hair. "I'll snap your neck, you little--"

Wally suddenly appeared and shoved his hand away. "Paws off!" he said, punching AFO.

AFO...was more surprised than hurt, because he hadn't been able to sense Wally being that close.

Wally yanked Shine away. "That was close. Are you okay, honey?"

"Thanks," Shine said. "Yeah, I am now... That was close though."

She put her hand on the sword hilt. "I release you," she said.

AFO smiled. "I can regenerate faster than that, Likstar. Your little pinprick isn't going to kill me."

"I wasn't trying to kill you," Shine said.

Suddenly AFO made a sort of gasping sound, like someone had punched him in the gut and it actually did hurt.

The others all blinked and looked at each other.

"I think it ended..." Aizawa said. He rubbed his forehead. "Ugh, for a second there I thought I was going to attack my own student."

"Like it would be the first time," Wally said dryly.

"What...have you done?" AFO demanded of Shine.

She pulled her sword out of him. "No one told you-- I block quirks...but I also can undo the damage of them, occasionally... To put it bluntly, you won't be using that quirk anymore." Her eyes flared gold again.

Wally nodded. "Yeah!" He put a hand on her shoulder. "So suck on that."

AFO stood up straighter. "So, you think you can win that easily?" he said, his tone getting dark. "Well, think again." Energy came shooting out of both his hands at all of them.

Wally tried to push them out of the way, but the edge of the blast still caught them, and they all shot out in different directions.

Deku shielded All Might, and Wally shielded Shine by encasing her with his arm and hitting the ground first.

The impact knocked the wind out of him.

Mirko escaped most of it by jumping, and she landed nearby, looking angry.

"I missed, huh...? Well, my aim isn't what it used to be," AFO said. "I have to get in a little closer." He shot out the red tendrils again. "Once I have you all tied down, I'll finish you off."

The tendrils stuck into everyone.

Mirko dodged it somehow, but barely.

"Oww..." Wally moaned, still not able to get up.

Shine cut them off her arm, but AFO just yanked her up by her feet.

"AFO, don't do this!" All Might called. "Take me, but let the others go. They're just innocent people caught in the middle of this."

"I'm glad you pointed that out, All Might," AFO said. "That is just exactly why I'll kill them too. I want to destroy your spirit as well. I already destroyed your body... Really, that's what all this was about."

"What?" All Might said.

AFO smiled. "Why, I let you stop me, All Might...because I knew it would take all of your power."

All Might was silent with horror.